E-Clean Up Australia Day: For volunteers only

Computer users will get a chance to recycle their old machines for free on 6 March, but only if they register as a volunteer with the Clean Up Australia Day organisation.The opportunity, which also marks the launch of a new nationwide electronic parts recycling collaboration between recycling company Sims Group and environmental services business Collex, will provide volunteers with free drop-off facilities in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.

Computer users will get a chance to recycle their old machines for free on 6 March, but only if they register as a volunteer with the Clean Up Australia Day organisation.

The opportunity, which also marks the launch of a new nationwide electronic parts recycling collaboration between recycling company Sims Group and environmental services business Collex, will provide volunteers with free drop-off facilities in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.

The registration idea was mooted after the Clean Up Australia Day organisation expressed concern the PC recycling programme would "hijack" their event, Sims group general manager of recycling Peter Netchaef told ZDNet Australia. Collex is the major sponsor for the popular recycling day.

However, Clean Up Australia Day spokesperson Melissa Hayes had a slightly different take on the situation, saying the e-recycling initiative was simply a way to give something back to the volunteers that work hard on the day to keep the nation green.

According to Sims Group, the need to recycle electronic waste in Australia is growing exponentially. The current extent of the problem "has been estimated at 125,000 tonnes annually" the group said, which is only a small percentage of the overall national annual waste of 22.3 million tonnes.

However small the percentage, the sheer tonnage weight has been enough to attract several companies into the electronics recycling business in the past, however Netchaef said that the collaboration between Sims Group and Collex was "the first to put serious capital behind the initiative, and the first with national reach".

Netchaef said the collaboration will have around 120 recycling points nationally.

Sims group managing director Jeremy Sutcliffe said that ultimately for e-waste recycling to achieve widespread community support it would need the support of government legislation similar to that which has been introduced in Europe and the US.

With respect to the actual recycling, Sims Group said that it involves "the combination of manual dismantling and the application of technology and mechanical processing. Various plastics, ferrous and non-ferrous metals and glass will be separated and processed individually, with computer tracking of brand equipment and models enabling componentry recycling."

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